A dinner will be provided at Bro. John Fowler's garden, to which the brethren will march in procession, where a long talk will be delivered by one of the order.
An adjourned meeting of the Society will be held on tomorrow evening, at the going down of the sun. By order of the Grand Sachem.
N. S. Porter, Sec.
8th of the month of Flowers, [1]Year of Discovery, 326."
During the second war with Great Britain, Fort Mifflin, on the Delaware River, near Philadelphia, was garrisoned for a time by a military company composed of the sons of the leading citizens of Philadelphia. At Fort Mifflin, and among these volunteers originated the "Society of Red Men," about the year 1813. Their motto was "Freedom and Friendship," and they were a natural outgrowth from and sequence to the St. Tammany Societies.
The records of the Society of Red Men are abundant and the Great Council of the United States in its Official History of the Order traces its growth and decline in detail as well as its customs and ceremonies. It flourished until about the year 1828, when it began to decline, and in 1832 was about extinct. The elements of conviviality, which seems to have been inseparable from all fraternal organizations of that period, finally produced such a degeneration in the Society as to disgust the better element, and cause the reorganization in its present form, and the incorporation of the word "Improved" in its title.
CHAPTER II.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE IMPROVED ORDER OF RED MEN (1833-1847).
In a pamphlet prepared by Bro. John F. Weishampel, Sr., containing a long talk delivered by him on Saint Tammany's Day, May 12, 1837, in the city of Baltimore, Md., he says:
"For some length of time prior to organizing the present Improved Order of Red Men, there existed in Baltimore, Md., a lodge, or society, called Red Men. They had their wigwam, or place of meeting, in the garret of a tavern. They met once a week, paid their dues, and initiated new members if any were on hand. After the business was over, the rest of the evening was spent in singing, telling yarns, making speeches, and convivial enjoyment, in which the decanter largely figured. The object of the society appeared to be only convivial entertainment. Several gentlemen who had been induced to join the lodge, but who did not favor such a course, withdrew as soon as they discovered the nature and object of the society, and it soon afterwards broke up."